18 CFR 35.41 - Market behavior rules.

(a)Unit operation. Where a Seller participates in a Commission-approved organized market, Seller must operate and schedule generating facilities, undertake maintenance, declare outages, and commit or otherwise bid supply in a manner that complies with the Commission-approved rules and regulations of the applicable market. A Seller is not required to bid or supply electric energy or other electricity products unless such requirement is a part of a separate Commission-approved tariff or is a requirement applicable to Seller through Seller's participation in a Commission-approved organized market.

(b)Communications. A Seller must provide accurate and factual information and not submit false or misleading information, or omit material information, in any communication with the Commission, Commission-approved market monitors, Commission-approved regional transmission organizations, Commission-approved independent system operators, or jurisdictional transmission providers, unless Seller exercises due diligence to prevent such occurrences.

(c)Price reporting. To the extent a Seller engages in reporting of transactions to publishers of electric or natural gas price indices, Seller must provide accurate and factual information, and not knowingly submit false or misleading information or omit material information to any such publisher, by reporting its transactions in a manner consistent with the procedures set forth in the Policy Statement on Natural Gas and Electric Price Indices, issued by the Commission in Docket No. PL03-3-000, and any clarifications thereto. Seller must identify as part of its Electric Quarterly Report filing requirement in § 35.10b of this chapter the publishers of electricity and natural gas indices to which it reports its transactions. In addition, Seller must adhere to any other standards and requirements for price reporting as the Commission may order.

(d)Records retention. A Seller must retain, for a period of five years, all data and information upon which it billed the prices it charged for the electric energy or electric energy products it sold pursuant to Seller's market-based rate tariff, and the prices it reported for use in price indices.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is proposing to revise its regulations to require that each regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) that currently allocates the costs of real-time uplift due to deviations should allocate such real-time uplift costs only to those market participants whose transactions are reasonably expected to have caused the real-time uplift costs. The Commission also proposes to revise its regulations to enhance transparency by requiring that each RTO/ISO post uplift costs paid (dollars) and operator-initiated commitments (megawatts) on its Web site; and define in its tariff its transmission constraint penalty factors, as well as the circumstances under which those penalty factors can set locational marginal prices, and any procedure for changing those factors.

Effective Date: This policy statement will become effective February 6, 2017.

18 CFR Part 35

Summary

The Commission issues this policy statement to clarify its precedent and provide guidance on the ability of electric storage resources to provide services at and seek to recover their costs through both cost-based and market-based rates concurrently. We are mindful that, by providing electric storage resources the opportunity to receive cost-based rate recovery concurrently with other revenue from market-based services ( e.g., through organized wholesale electric markets), there can be implementation details that may need to be addressed, including protections against the potential for double-recovery of costs from cost-based ratepayers, adverse market impacts, and regional transmission organization (RTO)/independent system operator (ISO) independence from market participants. The Commission provides guidance in this policy statement as to how electric storage resources seeking to receive cost-based rate recovery for certain services (such as transmission or grid support services or to address other needs identified by an RTO/ISO) while also receiving market-based revenues for providing separate market-based rate services could address these concerns and also clarifies some past precedent on these issues.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is proposing to revise its regulations and the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Procedures and pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Agreement. The Commission proposes reforms designed to improve certainty, promote more informed interconnection, and enhance interconnection processes. The proposed reforms are intended to ensure that the generator interconnection process is just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is proposing to revise its regulations to require that each regional transmission organization and independent system operator incorporate market rules that meet certain requirements when pricing fast-start resources. These reforms should lead to prices that more transparently reflect the marginal cost of serving load, which will reduce uplift costs and thereby improve price signals to support efficient investments.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is revising its regulations to address incremental energy offer caps. We require that each regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO): Cap each resource's incremental energy offer at the higher of $1,000/megawatt-hour (MWh) or that resource's verified cost-based incremental energy offer; and cap verified cost-based incremental energy offers at $2,000/MWh when calculating locational marginal prices (LMP). Further, we clarify that the verification process for cost-based incremental offers above $1,000/MWh should ensure that a resource's cost-based incremental energy offer reasonably reflects that resource's actual or expected costs. This Final Rule will improve price formation by reducing the likelihood that offer caps will suppress LMPs below the marginal cost of production, while compensating resources for the costs they incur to serve load, by enabling RTOs/ISOs to dispatch the most efficient set of resources when short-run marginal costs exceed $1,000/MWh, by encouraging resources to offer supply to the market when it is most needed, and by reducing the potential for seams issues.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is proposing to amend its regulations under the Federal Power Act (FPA) to remove barriers to the participation of electric storage resources and distributed energy resource aggregations in the capacity, energy, and ancillary service markets operated by regional transmission organizations (RTO) and independent system operators (ISO) (organized wholesale electric markets).

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to revise its regulations to require all newly interconnecting large and small generating facilities, both synchronous and non-synchronous, to install and enable primary frequency response capability as a condition of interconnection. To implement these requirements, the Commission proposes to revise the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Agreement (LGIA) and the pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Agreement (SGIA). The proposed changes are designed to address the increasing impact of the evolving generation resource mix and to ensure that the relevant provisions of the pro forma LGIA and pro forma SGIA are just, reasonable, and not unduly discriminatory or preferential. The Commission also seeks comment on whether its proposals in this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking are sufficient at this time to ensure adequate levels of primary frequency response, or whether additional reforms are needed.

2016-11-09; vol. 81 # 217 - Wednesday, November 9, 2016

81 FR 78756 - Control and Affiliation for Purposes of Market-Based Rate Requirements Under the Federal Power Act

Withdrawal of notice of proposed rulemaking and termination of rulemaking proceeding.

The notice of proposed rulemaking published on January 28, 2010, at 75 FR 4498, is withdrawn as of November 9, 2016.

18 CFR Parts 33 and 35

Summary

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is withdrawing a notice of proposed rulemaking, which proposed to amend its regulations pursuant to the Federal Power Act to grant blanket authorizations to acquire 10 percent or more, but less than 20 percent of the outstanding voting securities of a public utility or holding company and amend the definitions of “affiliate” in the Commission's regulations. The Commission is also terminating a proceeding on the Electric Power Supply Association's petition requesting guidance.

In this document, pursuant to sections 205 and 220 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) seeks comments on proposed revisions and clarifications of Electric Quarterly Report (EQR) reporting requirements and corresponding updates to the EQR Data Dictionary. In particular, this document proposes to: Require transmission providers to report ancillary services transaction data, to require filers to submit in the EQR certain tariff-related information that they submit in the e-Tariff system, and to require filers to submit time zone information in connection with transmission capacity reassignment transactions. This document also proposes to clarify how filers should report booked out transactions and seeks comments on issues relating to booked out transactions.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to revise its regulations to collect certain data for analytics and surveillance purposes from market-based rate (MBR) sellers and entities trading virtual products or holding financial transmission rights and to change certain aspects of the substance and format of information submitted for MBR purposes. The revisions proposed herein include new requirements for those entities to report certain information about their legal and financial connections to other entities to assist the Commission in its analytics and surveillance efforts. The Commission previously proposed to require certain market participants in the Commission-jurisdictional organized wholesale electric markets to file similar information about their financial and legal connections in the Collection of Connected Entity Data from Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued in Docket No. RM15-23-000 (Connected Entity NOPR). However, as described herein, this proposal presents substantial revisions from what the Commission proposed in the Connected Entity NOPR, including, among other things: A different set of filers; a reworked and substantially narrowed definition of Connected Entity; and a different submission process. With respect to the MBR program, the proposals include: Adopting certain changes to reduce and clarify the scope of ownership information that MBR sellers must provide, similar to the notice of proposed rulemaking issued in Docket No. RM16-3-000 (Ownership NOPR); reducing the information required in asset appendices; and collecting currently-required MBR information and certain new information in a consolidated and streamlined manner. The Commission proposes all of these changes in order to eliminate duplication, ease compliance burdens, modernize its data collections, and render information collected through its programs usable and accessible for the Commission and its staff. In furtherance of this effort, in orders being issued concurrently with the instant NOPR, the Commission withdraws the Connected Entity NOPR issued in Docket No. RM15-23-000 and the Ownership NOPR issued in Docket No. RM16-3-000. 1 The Commission also proposes to eliminate the requirement that MBR sellers submit corporate organizational charts adopted in Order No. 816 in Docket No. RM14-14-000. 1 Collection of Connected Entity Data from Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators, 156 FERC ¶ 61,046 (2016); Ownership Information in Market-Based Rate Filings, 156 FERC ¶ 61,047 (2016).

2016-08-01; vol. 81 # 147 - Monday, August 1, 2016

81 FR 50290 - Requirements for Frequency and Voltage Ride Through Capability of Small Generating Facilities

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is modifying the pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Agreement (SGIA). The pro forma SGIA establishes the terms and conditions under which public utilities must provide interconnection service to small generating facilities of no larger than 20 megawatts. The Commission is modifying the pro forma SGIA to require newly interconnecting small generating facilities to ride through abnormal frequency and voltage events and not disconnect during such events. The specific ride through settings must be consistent with Good Utility Practice and any standards and guidelines applied by the transmission provider to other generating facilities on a comparable basis. The Commission already requires generators interconnecting under the Large Generator Interconnection Agreement to meet such requirements, and it would be unduly discriminatory not to also impose these requirements on small generating facilities. The Commission concludes that newly interconnecting small generating facilities should have ride through requirements comparable to large generating facilities.

Withdrawal of notice of proposed rulemaking and termination of rulemaking proceeding.

The notice of proposed rulemaking published on September 29, 2015, at 80 FR 58382, is withdrawn as of July 28, 2016.

18 CFR Part 35

Summary

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is withdrawing its proposal to amend its regulations to require each regional transmission organization and independent system operator to electronically deliver to the Commission, on an ongoing basis, data required from its market participants that would: Identify the market participants by means of a common alpha-numeric identifier; list their “Connected Entities;” and describe in brief the nature of the relationship of each Connected Entity. The Commission is also concurrently issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in Docket No. RM16-17-000, which supersedes this proposal.

Withdrawal of notice of proposed rulemaking and termination of rulemaking proceeding.

The notice of proposed rulemaking published on December 24, 2015, at 80 FR 80302, is withdrawn as of July 28, 2016.

18 CFR Part 35

Summary

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is withdrawing its proposal to amend its regulations to clarify the scope of ownership information that sellers seeking to obtain or retain market-based rate authority must provide. The Commission is also concurrently issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in Docket No. RM16-17-000, which supersedes this proposal.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is revising its regulations to address certain practices that fail to compensate resources at prices that reflect the value of the service resources provide to the system, thereby distorting price signals, and in certain instances, creating a disincentive for resources to respond to dispatch signals. We require that each regional transmission organization and independent system operator align settlement and dispatch intervals by: Settling energy transactions in its real-time markets at the same time interval it dispatches energy; settling operating reserves transactions in its real-time markets at the same time interval it prices operating reserves; and settling intertie transactions in the same time interval it schedules intertie transactions. We also require that each regional transmission organization and independent system operator trigger shortage pricing for any interval in which a shortage of energy or operating reserves is indicated during the pricing of resources for that interval. Adopting these reforms will align prices with resource dispatch instructions and operating needs, providing appropriate incentives for resource performance.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is eliminating the exemptions for wind generators from the requirement to provide reactive power by revising the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Agreement (LGIA), Appendix G to the pro forma LGIA, and the pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Agreement (SGIA). As a result, all newly interconnecting non-synchronous generators will be required to provide reactive power at the high-side of the generator substation as a condition of interconnection as set forth in their LGIA or SGIA as of the effective date of this Final Rule.

2016-05-26; vol. 81 # 102 - Thursday, May 26, 2016

81 FR 33375 - Refinements to Policies and Procedures for Market-Based Rates for Wholesale Sales of Electric Energy, Capacity and Ancillary Services by Public Utilities

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is denying requests for rehearing and granting, in part, clarification of its determinations in Order No. 816, which amended its regulations that govern market-based rate authorizations for wholesale sales of electric energy, capacity, and ancillary services by public utilities pursuant to the Federal Power Act.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to revise the pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Agreement (SGIA). The pro forma SGIA establishes the terms and conditions under which public utilities must provide interconnection service to small generating facilities of no larger than 20 megawatts. In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Commission proposes to modify the pro forma SGIA to require newly interconnecting small generating facilities to ride through abnormal frequency and voltage events and not disconnect during such events. The Commission already requires generators interconnecting under the Large Generator Interconnection Agreement to have this capability, and it would be unduly discriminatory not to also impose these requirements on small generating facilities. The Commission believes that small generating facilities should now have ride through requirements comparable to large generating facilities.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is proposing to revise its regulations to require that each regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) cap each resource's incremental energy offer to the higher of $1,000/MWh or that resource's verified cost-based incremental energy offer.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to amend its regulations to clarify the scope of ownership information that sellers seeking to obtain or retain market-based rate authority must provide. The Commission proposes to find that the current policy that requires sellers to provide comprehensive ownership information is not necessary for the Commission's assessment of horizontal or vertical market power. The Commission further proposes to amend its regulations to clarify the types of ownership changes that must be reported to the Commission via a notice of change in status.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is revising its regulations to foster competition in the sale of primary frequency response service. Specifically, the Commission amends its regulations governing market-based rates for public utilities pursuant to the Federal Power Act (FPA) to permit the sale of primary frequency response service at market-based rates by sellers with market-based rate authority for sales of energy and capacity.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is proposing to eliminate the exemptions for wind generators from the requirement to provide reactive power. As a result, all newly interconnecting generators, including both synchronous and non-synchronous generators, would be required to provide reactive power. To implement this requirement, the Commission proposes to revise the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Agreement (LGIA), Appendix G to the pro forma LGIA, and the pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Agreement (SGIA) in accordance with the Commission's regulations, which require every public utility with a non-discriminatory open access transmission tariff on file to also have on file the pro forma LGIA and pro forma SGIA “required by Commission rulemaking proceedings promulgating and amending such interconnection procedures and agreements.” In this Proposal to Revise Standard Generator Interconnection Agreements (Proposal), the Commission proposes to modify both agreements to eliminate the exemptions for wind generators from the requirement to provide reactive power. As a result, all newly interconnecting generators ( i.e., new generators seeking to interconnect to the transmission system and all existing non-synchronous generators making upgrades to their generation facilities that require new interconnection requests), both synchronous and non-synchronous, would be required to provide reactive power as a condition of interconnection as of the effective date of the final revision.

Order Granting Motion for Technical Conference and Request to Postpone Comment Deadline.

The technical conference will be held on December 8, 2015 and NOPR comments will be due January 22, 2016.

18 CFR Part 35

Summary

In this order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) grants a motion for a technical conference and request to postpone comment deadline that was filed in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Collection of Connected Entity Data from Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators (NOPR) that Commission issued on September 17, 2015. 1 The Commission directs staff to convene a technical conference on December 8, 2015 and postpones the due date for comments on the NOPR until January 22, 2016, 45 days after the technical conference. 1 Collection of Connected Entity Data from Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators, 152 FERC ¶ 61,219 (2015).

2015-10-30; vol. 80 # 210 - Friday, October 30, 2015

80 FR 67056 - Refinements to Policies and Procedures for Market-Based Rates for Wholesale Sales of Electric Energy, Capacity and Ancillary Services by Public Utilities

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending its regulations that govern market-based rate authorizations for wholesale sales of electric energy, capacity, and ancillary services by public utilities pursuant to the Federal Power Act. This order represents another step in the Commission's efforts to modify, clarify and streamline certain aspects of its market-based rate program. The Commission is eliminating or refining certain existing filing requirements for market-based rate sellers as well as providing clarification regarding several issues. The specific components of this rule, in conjunction with other regulatory activities, are designed to ensure that the market-based rates charged by public utilities are just and reasonable.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to amend its regulations to require each regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) to electronically deliver to the Commission, on an ongoing basis, data required from its market participants that would; first identify the market participants by means of a common alpha-numeric identifier; and secondly list their “Connected Entities,” which includes entities that have certain ownership, employment, debt, or contractual relationships to the market participants, as specified in this NOPR; and finally describe in brief the nature of the relationship of each Connected Entity. Such information will assist screening and investigative efforts to detect market manipulation, an enforcement priority of the Commission. The initiative would also assist market monitors for the RTOs and ISOs in their individual and joint investigations of potential cross-market manipulation. Unless the RTOs and ISOs request continuation of existing affiliate disclosure requirements based on a particularized need, the Commission expects that this new disclosure obligation will supplant all existing affiliate disclosures requirements contained in the RTOs and ISOs tariffs. The proposed definitional uniformity of the term “Connected Entity” across all of the RTOs and ISOs may help ease compliance burdens on market participants that are active in more than one RTO or ISO, and that are now required to submit affiliate information that may be unique to each of the organized markets in which they participate.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is proposing to revise its regulations to require that each regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) settle energy transactions in its real-time markets at the same time interval it dispatches energy and settle operating reserves transactions in its real-time markets at the same time interval it prices operating reserves. The Commission also proposes to revise its regulations to require that each RTO/ISO trigger shortage pricing for any dispatch interval during which a shortage of energy or operating reserves occurs. Adopting these reforms would align prices with resource dispatch instructions and operating needs, providing appropriate incentives for resource performance.

Take notice that on June 19, 2015, the American Wind Energy Association filed a petition requesting that the Commission initiate a rulemaking to revise provisions of the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Procedures and pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Agreement.

In this Final Rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is amending its regulations to waive the Open Access Transmission Tariff requirements, the Open Access Same-Time Information System requirements, and the Standards of Conduct requirements, under certain conditions, for the ownership, control, or operation of Interconnection Customer's Interconnection Facilities (ICIF). This Final Rule finds that those seeking interconnection and transmission service over ICIF that are subject to the blanket waiver adopted herein may follow procedures applicable to requests for interconnection and transmission service under sections 210, 211, and 212 of the FPA, which also allows the contractual flexibility for entities to reach mutually agreeable access solutions. This Final Rule establishes a modified rebuttable presumption for a five-year safe harbor period to reduce risks to ICIF owners eligible for the blanket waiver during the critical early years of their projects. Finally, this Final Rule modifies, as described in detail below, several elements of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, including the entities eligible for the OATT waiver, the date on which the safe harbor begins, the rebuttable presumption that the ICIF owner should not be required to expand its facilities during the safe harbor, and the facilities covered by the Final Rule.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to revise its regulations to foster competition in the sale of primary frequency response service. Specifically, the Commission proposes to amend its regulations to revise the regulations governing market-based rates for public utilities pursuant to the Federal Power Act (FPA) to permit the sale of primary frequency response service at market-based rates by sellers with market-based rate authority for energy and capacity.

2014-07-25; vol. 79 # 143 - Friday, July 25, 2014

79 FR 43536 - Refinements to Policies and Procedures for Market-Based Rates for Wholesale Sales of Electric Energy, Capacity and Ancillary Services by Public Utilities

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is proposing to amend its regulations governing market-based rates for public utilities pursuant to the Federal Power Act (FPA). The Commission is proposing to revise its current standards for market-based rates for sales of electric energy, capacity, and ancillary services to streamline certain aspects of its filing requirements to reduce the administrative burden on applicants and the Commission. The Commission seeks comment on the proposed revisions. In addition, the Commission provides some clarification regarding the standards for obtaining and retaining market-based rate authority.

2014-07-23; vol. 79 # 141 - Wednesday, July 23, 2014

79 FR 42665 - Payment of Dividends From Funds Included in Capital Account

The Commission issues this policy statement to provide guidance that the Federal Power Act (FPA) should be interpreted as not prohibiting the payment of dividends from funds included in capital account by any public utility that has a market-based rate tariff on file with the Commission, does not have captive customers, and does not provide transmission or local distribution services. The Commission has concluded that the payment of dividends from funds included in capital account by such public utilities does not implicate the concerns underlying the enactment of the provision of the FPA that prohibits the payment of dividends from funds included in capital account. Thus, it is unnecessary for any public utility that meets the criteria identified in this policy statement to file a petition for declaratory order in order to seek assurances that dividends paid from capital account are not unlawful under this provision of the FPA.

This document contains corrections to the proposed rule (RM14-11-000) which published in the Federal Register of Friday, May 30, 2014 (79 FR 31061). The regulation proposed to amend regulations to waive the Open Access Transmission Tariff requirements, the Open Access Same-Time Information System requirements of its regulations, and the Standards of Conduct requirements of its regulations, for any public utility that is subject to such requirements solely because it owns, controls, or operates Interconnection Customer's Interconnection Facilities, in whole or in part, and sells electric energy from its Generating Facility, as those terms are defined in the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Procedures and the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Agreement and adopted in Order No. 2003. The Commission proposed to find that requiring the filing of an Open Access Transmission Tariff is not necessary to prevent unjust or unreasonable rates or unduly discriminatory behavior with respect to Interconnection Customer's Interconnection Facilities over which interconnection and transmission services can be ordered pursuant to sections 210, 211, and 212 of the Federal Power Act.

In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposes to amend its regulations to waive the Open Access Transmission Tariff requirements, the Open Access Same-Time Information System requirements its regulations, and the Standards of Conduct requirements its regulations for any public utility that is subject to such requirements solely because it owns, controls, or operates Interconnection Customer's Interconnection Facilities, in whole or in part, and sells electric energy from its Generating Facility, as those terms are defined in the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Procedures and the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Agreement and adopted in Order No. 2003. The Commission proposes to find that requiring the filing of an Open Access Transmission Tariff is not necessary to prevent unjust or unreasonable rates or unduly discriminatory behavior with respect to Interconnection Customer's Interconnection Facilities over which interconnection and transmission services can be ordered pursuant to the Federal Power Act.

The Commission is clarifying its regulations to make explicit that, consistent with Order No. 714 and its subsequent orders, statutory tariff and rate filings must be made electronically, according to the Commission's posted requirements for eTariff filings. Filings not made in proper electronic format will not become effective under the applicable statutes if the Commission fails to act by the proposed effective dates in the applicants' pleadings.

This notice contains corrections to the order (RM01-8-000, et al) which was published in the Federal Register of Friday, March 14, 2014 (79 FR 14369). This order updated the EQR Data Dictionary to indicate how market participants should enter information in certain fields of the new EQR system so that the new system's validation process will more readily accept filings. These updates to the EQR Data Dictionary enable the implementation of the Commission's revised EQR filing process. This order also updated the EQR Data Dictionary's list of Balancing Authority names and abbreviations to reflect changes in the official source of such data.

2014-03-21; vol. 79 # 55 - Friday, March 21, 2014

79 FR 15708 - Payment of Dividends From Funds Included in Capital Accounts

Comments on the proposed policy statement are due within May 20, 2014.

18 CFR Parts 2 and 35

Summary

The Commission proposes, as a statement of policy, that section 305(a) of the Federal Power Act (FPA) should be interpreted as not prohibiting the payment of dividends from funds included in capital accounts by any public utility that has a market-based rate tariff on file with the Commission, does not have captive customers, and does not provide transmission or local distribution services. Because the payment of dividends from funds included in capital accounts by such public utilities does not appear to implicate the concerns underlying the enactment of FPA section 305(a), the Commission proposes this policy in order to eliminate a regulatory burden otherwise applicable under FPA section 305(a) to such public utilities.

This order is effective March 14, 2014. The definitions adopted in this order shall be used beginning with the filing of the third quarter (Q3), 2013 EQR.

18 CFR Part 35

Summary

In this order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) updates the EQR Data Dictionary to indicate how market participants should enter information in certain fields of the new EQR system so that the new system's validation process will more readily accept filings. These updates to the EQR Data Dictionary enable the implementation of the Commission's revised EQR filing process. This order also updates the EQR Data Dictionary's list of Balancing Authority names and abbreviations to reflect changes in the official source of such data.

This document contains corrections to the final rule (RM13-2-000) which was published in the Federal Register of Thursday, December 5, 2013 (78 FR 73239). The regulations revised the pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Procedures (SGIP) and pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Agreement (SGIA) originally set forth in Order No. 2006.

In this Final Rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending the pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Procedures (SGIP) and pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Agreement (SGIA) to: Incorporate provisions that provide an Interconnection Customer with the option of requesting from the Transmission Provider a pre-application report providing existing information about system conditions at a possible Point of Interconnection; revise the 2 megawatt (MW) threshold for participation in the Fast Track Process included in section 2 of the pro forma SGIP; revise the customer options meeting and the supplemental review following failure of the Fast Track screens so that the supplemental review is performed at the discretion of the Interconnection Customer and includes minimum load and other screens to determine if a Small Generating Facility may be interconnected safely and reliably; revise the pro forma SGIP Facilities Study Agreement to allow the Interconnection Customer the opportunity to provide written comments to the Transmission Provider on the upgrades required for interconnection; revise the pro forma SGIP and the pro forma SGIA to specifically include energy storage devices; and clarify certain sections of the pro forma SGIP and the pro forma SGIA. The reforms should ensure interconnection time and costs for Interconnection Customers and Transmission Providers are just and reasonable and help remedy undue discrimination, while continuing to ensure safety and reliability.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is revising its regulations to foster competition and transparency in ancillary services markets. The Commission is revising certain aspects of its current market-based rate regulations, ancillary services requirements under the pro forma open-access transmission tariff (OATT), and accounting and reporting requirements. Specifically, the Commission is revising its regulations to reflect reforms to its Avista policy governing the sale of ancillary services at market-based rates to public utility transmission providers. The Commission is also requiring each public utility transmission provider to add to its OATT Schedule 3 a statement that it will take into account the speed and accuracy of regulation resources in its determination of reserve requirements for Regulation and Frequency Response service, including as it reviews whether a self-supplying customer has made “alternative comparable arrangements” as required by the Schedule. The final rule also requires each public utility transmission provider to post certain Area Control Error data as described in the final rule. Finally, the Commission is revising the accounting and reporting requirements under its Uniform System of Accounts for public utilities and licensees and its forms, statements, and reports, contained in FERC Form No. 1, Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees and Others, FERC Form No. 1-F, Annual Report for Nonmajor Public Utilities and Licensees, and FERC Form No. 3-Q, Quarterly Financial Report of Electric Utilities, Licensees, and Natural Gas Companies, to better account for and report transactions associated with the use of energy storage devices in public utility operations.

This document contains corrections to the proposed rule (RM13-2-000) which was published in the Federal Register of Friday, February 1, 2013 (78 FR 7524). The regulations revised the pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Procedures (SGIP) and pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Agreement (SGIA) originally set forth in Order No. 2006.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is making available on its Web site ( http://www.ferc.gov ), Extensible Mark-Up Language (XML) needed to make Electric Quarterly Report (EQR) filings with one of the new filing processes adopted in Order No. 770, in the Commission's Final Rule, 77 FR 71288 (November 30, 2012). Please refer to the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Section below for details.

The conference will be convened from 9:30 a.m. to approximately 5:00 p.m. (EDT).

18 CFR Part 35

Summary

On February 27, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) announced that staff will convene a workshop on Wednesday, March 27, 2013 to discuss certain topics related to the proposals in the Small Generator Interconnection Agreements and Procedures Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Docket No. RM13-2-000). 1 Please note that the time for the conference has been changed. 1 Small Generator Interconnection Agreements and Procedures, 142 FERC ¶ 61,049 (2013), 78 FR 7524 (Feb. 1, 2013).

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is proposing to revise the pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Procedures (SGIP) and pro forma Small Generator Interconnection Agreement (SGIA) originally set forth in Order No. 2006. The pro forma SGIP and SGIA establish the terms and conditions under which public utilities must provide interconnection service to Small Generating Facilities of no more than 20 megawatts (MW). In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR), the Commission proposes to modify the pro forma SGIP to: (1) Incorporate provisions that would provide an Interconnection Customer with the option of requesting from the Transmission Provider a pre-application report providing existing information about system conditions at a possible Point of Interconnection; (2) revise the 2 MW threshold for participation in the Fast Track Process included in section 2 of the pro forma SGIP; (3) revise the customer options meeting and the supplemental review following failure of the Fast Track screens so that the supplemental review is performed at the discretion of the Interconnection Customer and includes minimum load and other screens to determine if a Small Generating Facility may be interconnected safely and reliably; and (4) revise the pro forma SGIP Facilities Study Agreement to allow the Interconnection Customer the opportunity to provide written comments to the Transmission Provider on the upgrades required for interconnection. The Commission also proposes to clarify or correct certain sections of the pro forma SGIP and SGIA. The proposed reforms are intended to ensure that the time and cost to process small generator interconnect requests will be just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory. To facilitate discussion of the proposed reforms, the Commission intends to hold a workshop at which stakeholders may discuss the proposals made in this NOPR. The workshop is to be held before the end of the comment period.

The Commission issues this final policy statement to clarify and refine its policies governing the allocation of capacity for new merchant transmission projects and new nonincumbent, cost-based, participant-funded transmission projects. Under this policy statement, the Commission will allow developers of such projects to select a subset of customers, based on not unduly discriminatory or preferential criteria, and negotiate directly with those customers to reach agreement on the key rates, terms, and conditions for procuring up to the full amount of transmission capacity, when the developers broadly solicit interest in the project from potential customers, and demonstrate to the Commission that the developer has satisfied the solicitation, selection and negotiation process criteria set forth herein. The Commission is making these clarifications and refinements to fulfill its statutory responsibility of preventing undue discrimination and undue preference while providing developers the ability to bilaterally negotiate rates, terms, and conditions for the full amount of transmission capacity with potential customers. These clarifications and refinements will be implemented within the Commission's existing four-factor analysis used to evaluate requests for negotiated rate authority for transmission service. The Commission will apply this policy statement on a prospective basis to filings received after this issuance.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) amends its regulations to change the process for filing Electric Quarterly Reports (EQR). Due to technology changes that will render the current filing process outmoded, ineffective, and unsustainable, the Commission will discontinue the use of Commission-distributed software to file an EQR. Instead, the Commission adopts a web-based approach to filing EQRs that will allow a public or non-public utility to file an EQR directly through the Commission's Web site, either through a web interface or by submitting an Extensible Mark-Up Language-formatted file. By adopting a process with two options for filing EQRs, the Commission seeks to provide the flexibility needed to accommodate a public or non-public utility's technical preference. The Commission also requires a public or non-public utility to identify itself with a company identification number rather than the existing software-based EQR identifier. The changes to the process for filing EQRs will apply to EQR filings beginning with the third quarter 2013 EQR, which will provide data for July through September 2013.